Embedded WiFi recommendations?

I've been using the MRF24WB0MB/RMMRF24WB0MB/RM module from Microchip, together with their TCPIP Stack of course, on a PIC32MX795F512L. If you go down this route, I'd suggest buying a development board to quickly get a demonstration up and going. I've also got a Kinetis K60 tower kit and the AR4100 wifi module, but haven't had the time to do anything with that, so can't give a comparison yet.

For the MRF24W modules, they quote 154mA when TX is on @ 0dB. I'm using an SD card and GPS as well, seeing about 230mA total draw, everything on, with the above PIC32 MCU. I've found the examples fairly easy to modify and have managed to write my own AJAX code to handle button pushes etc. The example code polls for the LEDs & buttons @ 100Hz so will use more power than button pushes sending status / update requests when pushed.

You might also like to check out the WizFi 210 as a serial interfaced module - again I've yet to evaluate this but it's on my desk!

Thanks for the input from everyone.  I ended up ordering the WiFly shield from SparkFun although I wish I would have pursued the Microchip module.

At the time, I was in a big rush to have a basic prototype working and the shield seemed like the quickest route.  However, since the Roving Network's WiFly module has no SPI interface, the shield adds a UART to SPI bridge chip so that the Arduino's single UART is spared.

In theory this sounds good, but I have found it introduced extra complexity in troubleshooting my code.  I found it very hard to implement the seemingly simple functionality I needed from the WiFly: associate, connect, GET a URL that returns small amount  of text, sleep for 5 min, repeat.

At $90, I don't think the shield was a good buy and would prefer module with SPI.  I found an ATMega328 board called the Yellow Jacket with the latest Microchip module for $55 from Rugged Circuits. Great deal as module is $30 and don't think I could solder it's smaller pitch.  I am waiting for it to be back in stock - Rugged Circuits told me there is a world wide shortage of the Microchip part.

Thanks,

Drew

Arduino it's just fine, but I found something too interesting - flyport module.A web server module featuring a fully integrated Wi-Fi interface and several interfaces to the ‘real world’.

Yeah, I came across Open Picus (the project behind flyport) after hearing this interview with one of the founders of the project:

http://opensourcehardwarejunkies.com/2011/03/open-picus/

Unfortunately, their IDE doesn't support Linux so that's a no go for me.  Now that Microchip's MPLab supports Linux, I suppose there might be a way, but it discouraged me enough to not want to try the Flyport out for now.

Cheers,

Drew

Hi,

In the meantime, a companion chip for Microchip WiFi module has been released.

This companion chip ( MCW1001A ) enable fast access to WiFi for any microcontroller because it runs a TCP/IP stck and offers socket based connection.

The link to the HOST is a simple UART.

It makes the development much faster and processor independant

regards

The answer to my prayers, thank you for the info

I was building an OpenPicus flyport, but maybe I can use this to simplfy matters, and solve my original problem with the stack.

First the datasheet...

Thanks for the tip.  That looks promising and I'll check it out!

There are few other interesting Wifi solutions .i.e. Redpine signals and  Atheros. I have tried redpine one and it works awesome

There is also TI CC3000 which is a UART-to-WIFI module, probably a more compact solution with respect to the MCW1001A+MRF24WB0Mx couple.

Although I've used the Microchip's one in a dev-kit of theirs and I must admit it does the job pretty good, all the more if you have a beefy MCU to support it.

I was running an HTTP server in no time.

The openpicus is just a PIC24+MRF24WB0M plus a custom firmware that bootloads from their custom IDE.

It's comfy but you can do it yourself, in the end it's running the MCHP TCPIP stack just as you would.